bikethis

Hello everyone!

I have recently purchased my first new car, a Honda Fit. My last car was a Civic hatch, with a 12" sub facing the hatch. I don't know the details of that system, it was 5 years ago. I just know that when I had to move the sub facing sideways, it sounded like the power was cut in half, that facing the rear of the car was a huge advantage.

Last night, I may have jumped the gun, but I ordered an Alpine MRP-M500 amplifier and a SWR-1042D subwoofer. They should arrive next week.

I am not an audiophile by any means, but I love proper sound. I have a JVC KD-R800 going in tomorrow, along with an Audio Research 4 gauge amp kit.

I have yet to decide on an enclosure for my soon-to-be subwoofer. I would like to keep it narrow (14.5"), so my 60% fold-flat seat is useful with the box in place, so I think a sealed enclosure might be my best choice. It is possible I've been reading too much (diysubwoofers.org, bcae1.com), without proper experience.

I listen to disco house, electro house, funky house, and breaks.

Am I going in the wrong direction with this enclosure? Do you have suggestions?

Also: I'm not a carpenter, I build programs out of logic, not boxes out of wood. I'm afraid I would be quite out of my element with a router. Does anyone know of a person/shop/place that would fabricate an enclosure for me in the Vancouver area?

Thank you all for your help!

myx_maniac

i just built your exact box last weekend for a 10" type r the only thing is that it was a ported box. It sounds really good went into a 2003 nissan spec v. If you want to drive to ontario i'll build you one :P ha ha ah ha ha

myx_maniac

i just realized it was for the guy in the other thread you replied in lol.

I'll make a diagram for you off what i built and seems to sound good

bikethis

^thanks man! Unfortunately, I will not be heading to Ontario any time soon, or I would definitely take you up on that offer. The diagram would be helpful though.

It seems the Type R is a popular choice.

myx_maniac

i find them very tough and have been proven by many, there's tons of options and everyone will have their on oppinion but the've been good to me. I'll draw something up and post a pic of the box.

Enduro

My first post here but here goes anyways. I have the same subwoofer (except my type R is the 2 0hm version) and have the same amp in my car.

With a 14.5" wide setup I doubt ported is an option. I researched here and other places and the best ported setups will be much larger than you desire. IMO sealed is your best option

Alpine recommends a .65 cu box for a sealed setup up for that speaker, Whether thats the ideal size sealed setup, IDK, maybe one of the experts will chime in.

You can either make your own or buy a prebuilt. FWIW , Visions has a pretty good sale on now on Q-logic boxes. You can buy a pretty decent quality .65 cu box there for about $60.

Myself, I ended up going with a Q - Logic ported box. Its 1.1 cu and tuned to
38hz. Its not ideal, but still sounds pretty decent. It is noticably louder than the sealed box it was previously in. Best of all it was only $90.

I considered getting a custom built box made but all of the shops in my area wanted $250 min to build one. And I didn't want a gigantic box in my trunk.

bikethis

Enduro:

Did you get this box:
Q-logic 10" ported enclosure 1.10 cu ft

It's only 14.5" wide. That box may be perfect!

Thanks for the tips Re: visions

Questions:
-Why did you opt for the 2 ohm driver with that amp, which is not 1 ohm stable?

-Aside from your new ported box being louder than the sealed one, has the SQ changed at all? I've read that ported enclosures don't sound as "tight", though I'm not sure what that means, exactly.

-What type of music do you listen to?

Thank you for an informative first post, and for correcting your spelling

Toddyboy

iTrader: (1)

i would pm thumper and get a quote from him .. his build quality is 2nd to none and his prices are very fair

Enduro

AFAIK my sub is wired for 2 ohms, so my amp should be fine. I bought the sub complete in a sealed box cheap at a pawn shop. it looks and works as new. The box was a POS though, it was either homemade or a Scosche box. Really poor 5/8" construction .It sounded OK but I knew there was room for improvement.

When i swapped boxes I found out just how bad the original box was. The front panel had a crack and was also coming unglued . There was was zero sealing inside the box. Any box would be an improvement.

I was either gonna replace the box with a .65 sealed or a 1.25 cu ported box. Bassworx makes ported boxes close to that size but they are tuned too high 46 hz or 50hz. Q Logic seemed like the best compromise.

I saw someone here (Jalat?) designed a box for the type r. I'm sure it sounded great but its 23" across. Way bigger that I want in my trunk. Maybe someone can build you a smaller ported box . .it wouldnt hurt to ask around first.

I still haven't got my setup dialed . It sounds amazing on some songs and not great on others . I think its more an eq thing though as oposed to the sub. It was the same when i had a Punch 10" - sealed box setup. The ported box doesn't sound any better or worse, but it is much louder.

I think some frequencies are overpowering the bass lines. For example Iron Maiden and Rush music the guitars and vocals and drums drown out the bass lines. i think maybe those bass frequencies are getting into mid bass territory though and its my speakers that need EQuing. For blues like Stevie ray Vaughn the bass lines sound loud and clear.

I have a kenwood KVT 917 HU that has so many eq options its really hard to set up. The kenwood manual doesn't explain any of the EQ functions.

FWIW my amp is set up with all dials setup at about the 12 oclock position. The low pass is set at 100hz on the HU with a 18db slope. My speakers are set up with a high pass of 90hz and EQed fairly flat. The front speakers are set at -2db and the sub is at +5 db.

Edit - that is the Qlogic box I have.

bikethis

^ thanks alot, I hope you are able to get it dialed in so you can enjoy it properly